Here's This Girl
by uebermensch
Summary: Follow-on to the 2nd-to-last scene of episode 1x07, after Eliza successfully introduces the keynote speaker at Pharmaceuti-Con. I've written this story to mark the 2nd anniversary of the airing of the show's debut episode, "Pilot", on US television network ABC on 30 Sep 2014. This work is my 20th SelfieFic.


"HERE'S THIS GIRL"

Summary: Follow-on to the 2nd-to-last scene of 1x07, after Eliza successfully introduces the keynote speaker at Pharmaceuti-Con.

I've written this story to mark the 2nd anniversary of the airing of the show's debut episode, "Pilot", on American television network ABC on 30 Sep 2014. This work is my 20th SelfieFic.

* * *

Eliza stood to the side, distracted. In the rest of the auditorium, the audience's attention was directed to the keynote speaker Dr. Oszkar Nagyvari. Her own attention was on her smartphone, and in the online world, the requests kept piling up. Her friend- and follower-count continued to rise, which at the mo' made her feel okay.

Despite her success tonight, there was only one person in the real world she was thinking about.

 _I had killed it,_ thought Eliza, _but no amount of new friend requests could replace the one person who had unfriended me in real life._

She felt the loss, still def SoCal sorry, and while she was proud of herself for having done the intro with no trouble, she wanted him to see her 'kill it'. And as successful as she and Henry had been in keeping Kevin Whitaker safe for an evening, she wanted to hear him say again how proud he was of her. Somehow over the past few months, her life had reached the point where she simply needed his presence, especially in key moments like these. 13-year-old Eliza would've been proud …

A voice interrupted her musings. A male voice, a very familiar voice.

"Told you you could do it."

 _Henry!_ She turned and laughed, more out of relief than anything that was funny. "Heeyyyy. You showed up. And what happened to me not needing you anymore?"

"Are you kidding? You didn't sign Linda's birthday card because your nails were wet. What about the tardiness and the petty cash fraud? Not to mention your tendency to use emojis in work memos …"

She voiced a wet laugh, her eyes threatening to spill over, hearing how Henry listed off the things he knew about her. And how well he knew her, too …

"Your rudeness to children …"

"HEY!" Her outrage was necessary, even if he was right about her dislike of children.

"Constant gum-chewing. And that landline I gave you, which has been off the hook for at least 24 hours …"

"Oh, God … I'm sorry …" She had to admit the waterworks were in full force, and had he continued, she might have gone straight to something like 'joyful sobbing.'

"Come on." Henry led her down the passage under the auditorium stands. He reached into his jacket pocket and handed a handkerchief to her.

"Thank you," she said, gratefully accepting the handkerchief and wiping her happy tears.

 _Oh God, I can't believe I'm crying over Henry. I mean, I'm crying over the fact I still have my friend in real life …_

"Are you all right?" Henry asked with concern. As he guided her down the passageway, his hand remained on the small of her back, and she could feel the source of warmth blooming from his contact. Those feels of hers threatened to make her cry some more.

"Yes, thank you." She turned to him, forcing them to stop in their tracks. "I'm glad you came."

"Of course. I wouldn't miss this; sorry I was late, though …"

"I didn't think you'd show up …"

"I was angry with you. And I said I was 'done'. But I wasn't, not really. I'm sorry, Eliza …"

"I'm sorry, too …"

Henry and Eliza made their way back to coat check. After retrieving her red bag, they headed to the main exit when they saw Sam Saperstein approach.

"Miss Dooley! That was perfect!"

Eliza carefully wiped her nose and mouth, and glanced at Henry, hoping she looked all right to him. She need not have worried, because he returned her glance and nodded slightly, without a word in response. She gave a little smile in thanks.

"It was my pleasure, sir. Glad I didn't suck the life out of Pharmaceuti-Con …"

Saperstein paused, glancing at Eliza and then over at Henry. Eliza appeared upset, but Henry's practiced gaze gave nothing away. _Curse his Korean good looks!_ Saperstein turned back to Eliza. "Is everything all right?"

"Everything's fine, sir. I was really nervous before, but now … I'm not … y'know, nervous …"

"Excuse me, sir," Henry interrupted, sensing Eliza's awkward discomfort. "You're not staying for Dr. Nagyvari's talk?"

"No, I'm not. Look, you know I'm not going to understand all the details about the efficacy of full spectrum meds on tumors. But that's what Larry and his team is for. Besides, I have a dinner date with Yazmin …"

"Larry really is 'king of the lab', isn't he?" Henry grinned.

Sam wore a grave face, in complete contrast to the twinkle in his eyes. "Seriously, Henry: **never** tell him that …"

Eliza watched Henry and Saperstein lob verbal fastballs at each other. It was easy to forget how long they'd known and worked with each other. They would have worked out a shorthand when it came to easy conversation. She perked up again when she heard her name.

"Eliza, you were great out there; you shone bright like a diamond …" Saperstein said.

"That's kind of you to say, even though I totes forgot to mention the speaker's name …"

Saperstein chuckled. "Doesn't matter. You brought some star power to the proceedings; that's what matters."

"Thank you, sir."

"No no, Eliza; thank you." Saperstein glanced between Eliza and Henry for a moment long enough to make them both squirm. "Well, I must be off. You two have a good night."

Eliza took one last blow of her nose into the handkerchief. She handed the used ball of cloth over to Henry.

"That's all right," Henry said with mirth in his eyes. "You can have it."

She nodded and stuffed the handkerchief carefully into her bag. They watched Yasmin's car pull up to the curb; they could see her waving to them. As they both waved in return, they saw Sam in the passenger seat with an inscrutable smile before the car disappeared from view.

Eliza leaned into Henry, a friendly nudge on the shoulder. "You know what, Henry?"

"What's that, Eliza?"

"Our boss is giving me, us, the 'eye'."

"I don't know what that means …" Henry frowned.

"It means he's looking at us, as if we're … we're … uh …"

"As if we're what?"

 _He couldn't be that dense, could he? Those bowties he wears have effectively stopped all blood flow to his brain?_ "Seriously, Henry? You don't have any idea?"

"Actually, I do. But I'm afraid if I think about it, my head will explode."

 _Oh! So you_ _ **do**_ _see it. Holy crap, Henry sees it too?!_ "Our boss suspects we're more than colleagues, more than friends."

"Even though he knows you're with Freddy? And how I'm with someone now?"

She noticed how Henry almost spat out her boyfriend's name. "That may be, but we're not basic. We're less basic. Well, maybe I'm less basic. But as for you …"

"Hey!" He exclaimed in mock indignation.

"J/K, Henry; J/K. But seriously, I've seen the pictures of you and Julia both wearing the same outfit: the same checkered buttoned shirt, the same cardigan, and the same matching colors! That is incredibly basic and all sorts of wrong that I can't even begin to address …"

"I'm afraid to ask. How do you know how Julia and I are dressed when we're out on dates?"

"Henry, Henry," she shook her head at how he underestimated her. "You forget I'm the queen of social media. And you two are a meme. And not a good one. Someone posted a picture on Instagram of you both sitting outside at a café. You guys have the same god-awful taste in clothes …"

"What's wrong with the way I dress?"

"Come on, Henry; it's the 21st-century. Your wardrobe needs a refresh. Like Tay-Tay's relationship status …"

"Please don't bring a pop star into this conversation. I'm still puzzled by the problem you have with the way I dress …"

 _See? This? This banter?_ Eliza thought fondly. _I love how we do this back and forth thing, our thing, our own special verbal dance. It's the way we figure things out about each other and about our friendship. I suppose if Henry got tired of this, he'd jet out of this faster than a hipster at club disco night._

"Whatevs. Thanks for showing up tonight. Though I know I could've done this on my own …"

"I was confident you could do it." In yet another quiet intimate moment between them, he caught himself and backed off slightly. "I'm sure Freddy would've felt the same and told you the same thing …"

 _No, it totally isn't the same,_ she thought. _Sure I'm going to have tear off the sheets hot sex when I see Freddy next. You know, just to relieve the stress of these last few days. But Freddy doesn't understand, how I was super nervous about the speaker intro. I told Freddy about tonight, but he didn't come. I'm not sure he cares in the same way, the way that Henry does. What I am sure of is that Henry has the rest of his boring evening with boring Midget McPene. I wonder if they're having sex; I wonder if it's any good. I'm sure it'll be okay, I guess, with standard boring mish that'll last as long as she is short. I wonder what the after-sex is like. Sometimes I wonder if he'll hold her after they've finished and they'll talk about … stuff. Or maybe he'll go right to sleep after. Oh noes, I can't see him doing that; he'll have to talk about it. Because that's Henry. He'll hold her and caress her and whisper warm sweet things in her ear. Because that's fucking hot, too. And maybe, I want that, too. Wait … wait … wait, because that's sooo not Freddy … but if we're talking about 'squad goals,' I got one in mind. And maybe, there's a squad of Henry and me out there: me and Henry, us against the world …_

She shook her head, a little more vigorously than usual.

"Uh, are you okay there, Eliza?"

His kind caring look was _**not**_ what she wanted right now. "Uh yeah, totes good; thanks. Guess that's it for tonight, huh?"

"Yes, it is. I should get going: Julia's waiting for me …"

"Yeah, okay, sure …" Glancing away, Eliza had to admit she was disappointed; he had arrived in time for her speaker intro, and now he was leaving. Had she looked up, she would've seen him looking her way with a carefully measured gaze.

Eliza and Henry had exited the auditorium, and were on the sidewalk under clear evening skies.

"Oh, and by the way," Henry said. "Great job on the cake. I appreciate that you took the time, not just to bake a cake, but you baked one specifically for Julia."

"It was great, wasn't it? There's nothing a cake can't cure. Except alcoholism."

Henry gave her an odd look. "Okaaaay. And also, by the way: yuck! According to Julia, you got the … um … parts … down really well. Very detailed. And completely disgusting."

"Shut. Up. You know you loved it ..."

"Yeah, I did, actually ..." He looked up after a pause. "Still entirely unsettling ..."

"I got the physiology down, didn't I. I even found out where the prostate is." Reproducing the move she showed Charmonique, Eliza curled her index finger down, then raised her finger up, and further up until she stopped and said, "Doink!"

He cringed at the the image flashing in his head. "Very good, Eliza. Nasty, but very good. By the way, about Linda's birthday …"

"I know, I know. I'll go into the office tomorrow and wish her a late 'happy birthday' in person."

He nodded. "Good." A loud electronic chirping pierced the moment and both automatically reached and glanced at their respective phones.

"Hi, Julia." Henry answered first. "I'm sorry I'm running a little late, but I'll be right th … what's that? Are they going to be all right? No no, I understand; it's all good. Thanks for locking up, Julia; see you tomorrow." He ended the call, a slight twitch of irritation on his lips.

"What's wrong?"

He looked up, wiping his expression. "Oh, nothing. I was going to head home and watch 'The Mentalist' with Julia, but she got a call an hour ago about a 7am appointment tomorrow for a little girl who came down with a urinary infection. The little girl is going to be okay though. It means a very early evening for Julia who's back at her place."

Eliza thought of the girl who hurt from the 'oopsie' and whose favorite book was the little kitty who could. Eliza was the kitty who rocked. But she thought about that little girl from today and the little children who needed Julia's expertise. _I admit Julia helps a lot of people and a lot of kids. But she's still a tiny woman …_

"Does this mean I have you for the rest of the evening?" Eliza asked expectantly, with a hint of allure.

"Not so lurid as you made it sound, but yes, you do. Did you drive, Eliza?"

"No, I took an Uber. Why do you ask?"

"Wait, I thought you had a negative Uber rating."

"Have you learned nothing from me, Henry: 'fake it until you make it.'"

"Sooooo …"

"It's what fake accounts are for."

He chuckled. "Reason why I ask is it's still early and I know you haven't eaten. So I've decided I'm taking you to my family's Buca di Beppo in Encino. We're celebrating, I'm driving, and I'm buying."

"How'd you know ..?"

"Because you get nervous about public speaking. Remember when we gave our presentation and saved our chewable orange vitamin? You told me you didn't eat breakfast, and you only had several cups of coffee. You were a bit of a mess until the moment we stepped into the board room. You stood tall, proud, and confident. I don't think anyone was the wiser …"

She nodded, impressed he remembered that bit about her. "Well, I'm never gonna turn down a party or free food. So what are we celebrating?"

He led the way to the parking garage. "One, you did a great job tonight. Two, that was some cake. And three, I never stopped being your friend."

"Awwww, Henry. You're gonna make me cry again. I **am** sorry for writing those stupid mean things about Julia."

"Thank you. I understand."

"You do?"

"It's because you thought things would change when I started dating Julia."

"Yeah …"

"Eliza, things have to change, but only a little bit."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"Let me ask: does Freddy complain about the time you spend with me?"

"He does. But he knows I'm not stepping out on him. Though I sometimes wonder if he wants me to, so he can sleep with other women …"

"T-M-I, Eliza. Seriously though, look at it from his perspective. You're his girlfriend, but you come to me when you've got a problem. At least problems that don't involve sex."

"Because we got that down! Am I right?" She quickly held her hand up for a 'high-five'.

Henry shook his head, disappointing her. "Point bees, Eliza, is that we can't have a relationship, or a meaningful one, with our respective partners, if we spend all the time with each other. What I'm proposing is we begin reducing …"

"What? Noooo …."

"Hear me out, Eliza. All I'm saying is we start by cutting one night from the three nights we see each other every week. You know, that way, you have an extra night with Freddy, and I have the same extra with Julia."

"You're gonna be bored with less me in the picture …"

"Huh, tough talk, Dooley: chances are better you're going to miss rolling your eyes at me."

"Whaaaa?! Okay, fiiiiiine. We'll play it your way, for now."

"Thank you, Eliza." He reached for her arm. "I'm proud of you."

She held his hand and squeezed, in response to the shots of warmth emanating from deep within her belly. Collecting her thoughts in a serious way for a serious moment, she braved forward. "Henry, I wanna say … you can always come to me if you've got something that's bugging you. And I promise I won't mock you or Julia. Too much. To your face."

"Gee, thanks, Eliza. That's really big of you."

She was about to pounce on the 'size' of it all, when Henry quickly recovered. "No, Eliza. Nooooo …."

They smiled and grinned at each other before realizing they still held each other's hand. Reluctantly, they released their hold. Her stomach growled loudly when they approached his car.

"Okay, it just hit me big time," Eliza said. "I'm super duper hunnngs. So what are you gonna have at Buca?"

"Since I go there all the time, I think all I'm going to have is soup and salad."

In the passenger seat, she waited for him to sit on the driver side. "Henry, for once could you **not** have salad? World's not gonna end if you miss out on leafy roughage the one time …"

"And what would you suggest I have?"

She paused and looked at him for a moment, because she could turn an innocent question into 'sexy times'. But she didn't, although her mind had already leapt to a dangerous thought that did not include Freddy. "There's chicken parm, any number of pasta dishes, and oh, everybody's favorite: lasagna."

He grinned, his thoughts arriving to a quick conclusion. "You know what? That sounds good. Lasagna it is. I sometimes forget the portions are huge. Why don't you get an entree, I'll order one as well, and we'll split the leftovers."

"Sounds good to me, but oh em gee, Henry has admitted out loud that I'm right. What **has** the world come to?"

"I didn't say you were right …"

"You clearly implied it …" Eliza replied with glee.

"What?"

"You know you did."

"I did not …" Henry answered with mock outrage.

"You so did …"

"Elizaaaaa …" Henry turned his head and smiled at her, before returning his attention to the road.

"Henryyyy …" Eliza said, dragging out the final syllable to his name.

 _It's not a total loss,_ she thought. _It's totes for the win: I'm the hot courageous kitty, and I handled Pharmaceuti-Con all right and all on my own. But it's so much better with Henry. My friend Henry. It feels so good to say and think that. I still have my friend in real life._

Their animated conversation and laughter accompanied them in his war car throughout the entire way across Los Angeles to the restaurant.


End file.
